Recent "Agile 2.0 - or not" conversations have spurred author Alistair Cockburn to blog a conversation he recently had with Jeff Patton. Cockburn, master of metaphor, who helped us think about team communication as "hot air currents" and "osmosis", today brings us a new word-picture to consider: Naked Skydiving as a metaphor for Agile process stripped to its essentials and moving fast.
"Naked agile is without apologies not for everyone and not for every project. Big, distributed teams can forget it (think Arctic naked skydiving ... cold cold cold). Life critical systems, forget it (think rocks and shale on the landing surface... death, destruction and many cuts). But if you're a small team, colocated, with access to usage experts, it could be your thing."
As Agile software development moves into the "enterprise" space, gaining tools and trappings, Cockburn and Patton sound an appeal to focus on the basics: "Listening, Designing, Coding, Testing – That's all there is to software. Anyone who tells you different is selling something," to quote Kent Beck.
